


unrevealing darkness

by lovexoright



Series: nct oneshots [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Doyoung helps him, Everything that could go wrong goes wrong, Fluff, Jungwoo is afraid of the dark, M/M, Panic Attack, Qian Kun is mentioned, Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas is mentioned, Wrote this at 1 AM, at least some, will probably edit later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 02:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovexoright/pseuds/lovexoright
Summary: Jungwoo is afraid of the dark.





	unrevealing darkness

Jungwoo has always had an irrational fear of the dark.

No matter how many times he told himself as a child that there’s nothing to be scared of, that the dark couldn’t hurt him, it hadn’t worked. Even now, at the age of 21, the unknown of the dark still frightened him.

So, when the lights in the dorm went out, it wasn’t something Jungwoo found joy in. The fact that it happened in the middle of the night didn’t exactly help the situation.

To make the situation even better (note the sarcasm), both Kun and Lucas were in China for their promotion with WayV, leaving Jungwoo all alone in their shared room.

Jungwoo had been in the middle of reading a book when the light on his nightstand had started flickering. At first, he hadn’t thought much of it, but then the light had turned off.

The blonde got an uneasy feeling in his chest. He put his book down on the bed, not caring if he lost his page, and reached for the nightlight’s switch in a hurry.

His hand fumbled around a bit at first, since he wasn’t able to see much. The faint light of the moon through the thin curtains by the window was now the only source of light in the entire room.

When he finally found it his hand stilled for a second. “Please work”, the young man mumbled to himself, before he clicked the switch twice. Once for off and once more for on.

Nothing happened though. Jungwoo felt his heart speed up in his chest.

He fell back into the bed, nearly hiding under the covers and closed his eyes tightly. Jungwoo quietly mumbled to himself, trying to reason and calm himself down.

“Maybe it’s just the lamp” he abruptly whispered out loud, sitting up in the bed again. He lifted the covers off himself with his shaky hands and carefully placed his feet on the cold floor.

He ignored the shivers going through his body and focused on trying to calm his galloping heart down.

As he stood up he stepped into the slippers that were standing on the floor right by the bed and slowly made his way towards the opposite side of the dark room.

Jungwoo placed his hands in front of himself and felt the floor with his foot for each step he took, making sure he wouldn’t step or slip on something.

By the time he finally reached the other side of the room his heart had slowed slightly, holding on to the hope that the bulb in the nightlight had burned out.

He placed both his hands on the wall and started blindly searching for the light switch. Jungwoo found it within a few seconds. He took a deep breath and pressed on the switch.

Nothing happened.

“Okay” mumbled Jungwoo, trying to remain as calm as possible. “Maybe it’s just in this room” the man’s mind concluded.

He knew the assumptions were ridiculous and highly unlikely, but Jungwoo wanted, _needed_, to hang on to the small hope that the power hadn’t actually gone out. Even if it was for just a few more minutes.

The blonde gripped around the door handle and opened the door slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. It made a small squeaking sound as it opened, making Jungwoo wince. He wasn’t planning on waking up everyone else just because of his own stupid fear.

As the door opened the rest of the way without another sound, Jungwoo glanced out into the hall, only to be met with complete darkness.

The absence of windows down the corridor made the lack of light painfully obvious. There were usually be a few lights lit at night, in case any of the members needed to use the toilet or if they wanted some water or food during the night. It was also helpful for the times when members came home late from schedules.

Jungwoo unconsciously grimaced, his heartbeat going through the roof.

All his previous hope was smashed. The lightbulb in his nightlight wasn’t just burned out, the lack of light wasn’t just in his room.

No matter where he looked or went it would be completely dark.

He closed the door and reacted his head against it, trying to figure out what to do.

The majority of people in this situation wouldn’t care. They would go back to their beds and sleep without a care in the world.

But Jungwoo wasn’t a part of that majority. After all, the majority of 21-year-olds weren’t depended on a nightlight to sleep.

He held back tears of frustration and panic as he made his way back to the bed, not caring where he stepped anymore. He just needed to find his phone.

If only his roommates were here, then maybe everything would have been good. Maybe not good, but at least better.

Both Kun and Lucas were very aware of Jungwoo’s fear of the dark and were surprisingly sweet about it.

When Jungwoo first had heard the news that he would room with the two he had been scared. Scared that they might make fun of him if they were to find out about his fear.

Jungwoo had tried being discreet about it at first, finding ways to light up the room without making what he was doing too obvious.

He had tried everything, from letting the bedroom door stay open to switching his phone’s auto-lock to never, making the screen dimly light up the room during the entire night.

The different attempts had however not been especially successful, though.

His attempts at letting the door stay open had immediately failed, seeing that if there’s one thing Kun doesn’t tolerate, it’s when people don’t close the door after entering to exiting a room.

So when Jungwoo tried to let the door stay agape one night, Kun had close to commanded him to go back and close it right away.

The second attempt, trying to let his phone screen stay on all night, had annoyed the living being out of Lucas who, at that time, were bunking in the bed above Jungwoo’s. Though the younger hadn’t uttered a single word verbally, the fact that he had restlessly moved around the entire night said enough.

It wasn’t exactly Jungwoo’s plan to make it easier for himself to sleep and harder for the other two.

In the end, he ended up just telling Lucas and Kun about his problem.

After endless sleepless nights full of soundless crying and panic, he couldn’t do it anymore. It wouldn’t be a surprise for Jungwoo if the two had noticed him crying at some point, and if that continued they would probably start thinking that there was something seriously wrong.

How embarrassing wouldn’t it be than to tell them that he’s been crying just because of the dark?

Upon telling them about his fear, Lucas had let out a loud laugh at first. That, however, changed the second he noticed the elder’s hurt and embarrassed face.

Kun had sent Lucas a strict look and swooped in, telling Jungwoo that it was nothing to embarrassed about. Though Jungwoo disagreed he decided against saying anything about it, appreciating Kun’s words.

He then let the elder collect him in his arms. The younger of the three quickly joined in on the hug and apologized for laughing. Lucas even told Jungwoo not to worry because he would be there and protect him from the dark.

Perhaps Jungwoo’s heartbeat sped up a bit after hearing those words, but no one needed to know that.

A sigh left Jungwoo’s mouth as he found the phone under one of the pillows on his bed. He pressed the home button, waking the phone to life.

Momentarily regret followed, as he got blinded by the bright light radiating from the phone screen. He didn’t care too much though, because it was light. Jugnwoo was no longer surrounded by complete darkness.

Clicking on the flashlight button in the corner of the phone, the area in front of him was lit up.

The feeling of slight relief his Jungwoo and he could finally feel himself relax a bit. He could finally make out what and where the different things in the room were. The feeling didn’t last for long though, because seconds later a notification banner appeared on top of the screen.

Low battery  
10% of battery remaining

Tears filled his eyes again as he read the words, but this time Jungwoo didn’t have the energy nor hope to hold them back.

He let the tears fall freely from his eyes as he sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling the panic take over his body and mind.

The phone fell out of the boy’s grip and landed on the floor with a loud thud. It ended up laying screen up, leaving only the faint light of the screen to illuminate the otherwise dark room.

Jungwoo’s cries soon tuned into soundless sobs, as he no longer managed to keep the panic down.

He couldn't see a thing.

His hand unconsciously reached for the nightstand, trying to make the lamp out in the dark. When he couldn’t find it yet another alarm went off inside his head and he felt his entire body start to shake.

Hysteric hands tried searching for the light’s switch and when they found it he continuously pressed on it, but it didn’t work. His panicked mind couldn’t completely grasp why it wasn’t working.

“Please, please, please, please” the young man mumbled to no one in particular, just hoping it would help.

But the light didn’t turn on and Jungwoo was sobbing even harder now. The loud cried could probably be heard through the walls, but Jungwoo couldn’t find it in him to care anymore. He just wanted the stupid light to turn on. To work.

He needed it to turn on. Now.

Because without the light Jungwoo can’t breathe, and right now there’s no light which means he can’t breathe.

Jungwoo gasped for his breath, tears steadily making their way down the blonde man’s face.

In his panicked state he didn’t even notice that the previously closed door to his room was opened. A strong light appeared, lighting up the entire room.

Steps could be heard as a male stepped into the previously dark room, trying to wrap his tired head around what was going on.

He had been awakened by the sound of something falling, and though he barely was conscious at the time, the noises of something that sounded like someone crying made his instincts wake up. His so-called “motherly” instincts, that is.

Doyoung fumbled with the phone in his hand, trying to find the source of all the sound.

Just then another cry came from the younger boy.

With hurried motions Doyoung focused the light coming from his phone towards Jungwoo, who now was a small figure, curled up in his bed.

Hasty steps could be heard as the elder hurried over to the younger. Though, as he closed in, Jungwoo’s cries seemed to get louder and even more panicked. Doyoung froze on the spot.

“Jungwoo, it's just me, Doyoung hung,” the elder said in the calmest voice he could muster.

He places his phone on the nightstand, making sure the flash pointed upwards so that he wouldn’t blind the younger with the strong light. He then slowly made his way onto the bed, following Jungwoo carefully with his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

When no answer came, just a small whimper, Doyoung placed his hand on Jungwoo’s tense shoulder. “Jungwoo?”

The response was immediate.

The younger violently cringed away from the other’s touch, pushing himself away from Doyoung and closer to the wall, away from what Jungwoo registered as an unknown touch.

Because in Jungwoo’s mind there was nothing but fear and fear only. He still hadn’t registered the other’s presence.

The dark had surrounded him and was touching him and he just wanted it gone.

Doyoung could see the wet marks from Jungwoo’s tears on the sheet and felt his heart break, looking at the boy’s shaking from. It seemed like he was trying to make himself invisible, where he was shrinking into himself and pushing towards the wall like he was trying to be a part of it.

“Jungwoo, I need you to listen to me, please. You need to breathe.”

The elder made sure not to touch Jungwoo again, though it was tempting. All he wanted to do was to hug the younger boy, soothe him and make him understand that everything was alright.

But he couldn’t, not yet, not when he reacted that badly to touch the first time.

“Jungwoo, please listen to me. I’m Doyoung, you can recognize my voice, right?”

The younger finally seemed to acknowledge the other, shiny eyes looking up at Doyoung. “Hyung?” he whispered out, voice husky.

Doyoung nodded. “I’m right here. Everything is okay” he whispered back, hoping it would calm the blonde.

“Can I touch you?” he then asked and waited for the other to give him the red or green light. It took a few seconds for Jungwoo to register the question, but when he did he gave a short, uncertain nod.

The elder carefully placed his hand on top of Jungwoo’s, hoping it wouldn’t overwhelm the latter.

He took it as a positive sign when Jungwoo gripped his hand tightly, not wanting to let it go.

“Hyung-“ he whispered out hoarsely, silent tears falling down his face.

Doyoung shushed him. “You’re going to be okay.”

Jungwoo nodded, closing his eyes, letting the exhaustion wash over him.

“It’s okay. Just sleep, I’m not going anywhere” the black-haired man whispered, carefully placing Jungwoo’s head in his lap while running his available hand through the locks of the blonde man’s hair.

Though Doyoung wasn’t sure exactly what had happened or what had made Jungwoo panic, he knew the younger needed some rest before he was ready to tell.

“Thank you” the younger whispered as he fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> posted this at 1 am, will probably edit later :))


End file.
